Chapter 177. Two Sword Masters (8) + The Princess is a Elementalist (1)
“Father, one more thing… If you were my father, what decision would you make?”
I was curious about this for a while, so I asked.
“….I see. If it were this body, it would be..
In response to my question, my father seriously pondered what decision he would have made if it were him.
“There will be no war.”
There is never any hesitation in that answer.
“okay.”
I smiled and agreed.
Indeed…. This is the answer as I thought.
Although he usually behaves harshly and his servants are beaten in the muscle every day, my father never initiated a dispute with a foreign country during his reign.
Even so, if they invade, they will thoroughly repay you.
Even if you look like that, you are surprisingly a thorough pacifist.
I had no choice but to bring this agenda out at this timing.
And after half an hour, the oldest brother came back as if he had made up his mind.
You’re here.
Looking at his face, his complexion was slightly pale, as if he had gone through countless troubles in that short time.
My father and I just waited for the answer in silence.
Either answer doesn’t matter.
that’s our idea
“…I will prepare for war.”
As if he had made up his mind on his future course, Jeil Hyung-nim resolutely solidified his will.
“It is just in case. Arel I will firmly keep that. If you want to break it, I will not tolerate you either.”
“Yes, that is right.”
I agreed.
The war we are preparing for will only be assumed when there is someone who shows openly hostile movements to our Ernesia Kingdom.
I won’t go in first without a reason.
Even if hyung-nim doesn’t emphasize it, I’m going to make sure to keep it thoroughly.
“So, Arell, tell me now. Where are you… Who are you so wary of?”
Now that it has been decided, the time has come to name the most likely of our enemies.
I erased the smile from the corner of my mouth and spoke the name.
“Those who may become enemies in the future are… the Zelnian Holy Kingdom.”
The history of the past and the situation of the continent going back to the present.
After reviewing everything, there was no other answer.
“We believe there is a high possibility that they will invade within the next five years.”
I did my own research after the saintess came and went.
I tried to find out as much as possible, such as the situation in the Holy Kingdom and the bad relationship between them and the Kingdom of Ernesia.
‘Most of them were about what I was aware of.’
The conflict between the positions and interests of the existing kingdom and kingdom was only about what I knew.
However, it was not easy to find the ‘reason why we can’t be really friendly’ that the saintess had said in the previous meeting.
It didn’t even sound like a joke.
‘Because it was hundreds of years ago that the two countries started to confront each other in the first place.’
There is a limit to simply looking through the records.
But one thing was certain.
that there is a possibility of war.
That’s why I devise a plan to invade them in reverse, even taking the risk of stepping out on purpose.
The so-called Seongguk Downfall Operation.
Unless, of course, they do something suspicious, I have no intention of doing it.
because i am equal
I don’t knock on innocent people to satisfy my greed.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t let go of it.
In any case, if
Just in case, I decided to thoroughly prepare.
It’s my privilege to turn everything over if I’m wrong.
similar period.
Nelvania, the saintess of the Zelnian Holy Land, gathered her servants who followed her and was discussing the future policy.
“Please be careful not to provoke Ernesia Kingdom for the time being.”
“Are you going to stop preaching to them?”
someone asked.
Evangelize.
The tract is actually a slang word meaning an invasion plan against countries that do not follow their doctrine, including the Kingdom of Ernesia.
“Yes, I will not touch them for the time being.”
The saintess answered immediately.
“Because I have a lot of other things to do now.”
There are a lot of things to take care of, including diplomacy with the Merman Empire.
“The problem is that he has to deal with what he did, so there is no time for that.”
“Priest Felzin went too far.”
Others agreed.
Even if it wasn’t so, it was easy to get on his nerves if he accidentally touched Arel because of what he arbitrarily tried to provoke.
“But evangelism… has been a long-cherished wish. To give up…
many will not be convinced.”
“Even so, I can’t help it now. If there were to be a war, wouldn’t it be impossible to win now?”
Not everyone objected to her point.
After the discussion, Nelvenia entered her room and sighed deeply.
“It seems that I still don’t understand.”
Throughout the meeting, there was no way she could not feel the dissatisfied gazes of the servants as her.
Even if there were no people as blatantly reckless as Felzin, who had been purged, there was no way he wouldn’t be dissatisfied.
“But it is also true that there are no sharp numbers.”
What if I have a complaint? there is no alternative
Everyone knows that the power of the Kingdom of Ernesia is quite strong right now, without needing to be emphasized by anyone.
All idiots who don’t know that have put it away, so they’ll see that level of reality.
“Even so, we can’t just leave it unattended.”
It would be quite a headache if the kingdom of Ernesia, which had animosity with other countries, controlled the world in the future.
It is also true that something must be done before it is out of hand.
“Above all…because that is a secret wish.”
The saintess shook her head as if she was seriously troubled, recalling a secret wish that had been passed down from hundreds of years ago that others did not know about.
“If left unattended for a long period of time, it will become even bigger. But even now, there is no chance of winning.”
That is the enemy she must defeat.
So what should I do?
It’s just that they can’t attempt an overt invasion.
then.
“…I don’t like it, but I guess I’ll have to use a bit of a nuisance.”
She murmured softly and took out a small bottle from the drawer.
Unlike holy water, the liquid inside the bottle is colored black.
She glared at the liquid as if pondering for a moment, then shook her head.
still impatient
“Let’s go carefully.”
Nelvenia thought so, and decided to slowly plan the matter later, and first tried to deal with what had to be done now.
“Conciliate the Empire to come over here completely… There are many other things to do.”
Step by step.
Carefully count each one.
So, calming herself down, she began to think about what to do next.
The princess
decided to leave the preparations for the Elementary Command (1) full-scale war to the elder brother.
If I was going to take the lead anyway, I wouldn’t have put such a troublesome board.
The position I want to take is to quietly push from behind.
It’s going to take several years anyway.
There’s no need for me to take the lead.
Therefore, leaving the details to my older brother, I decided to return to the manor and do what I wanted to do.
* * *
When I returned to the territory, Darmon and Aken found me.
Apparently, I have an urgent report on an invention I have instructed to develop.
Not too long ago I threw blueprints at them to make something, and apparently the result came out.
When I arrived at Damon’s studio, two people were already waiting for me.
As soon as I arrived, Damon first bowed his head as if he was embarrassed.
“You must be quite tired, but I am sorry that I had to find Arell-nim in such a hurry.”
“no. Anyway, I was curious about the outcome of this. so? How complete is it?”
“First of all…
was it the ‘press…’ you mentioned?”
Arken said the name while stuttering, as if he wasn’t familiar with the name yet.
“It was made exactly as you asked.”
“already? Is the completion quicker than expected?”
“It is only natural that the production of complicated machines is already familiar with paper machines.”
Aken was a little smug, as if he was bragging.
Then, he pointed proudly to a machine placed in a corner of the workshop.
Yes.
That’s the printing press.
Realizing that the printing technology was still poor in the kingdom before, I decided to introduce a full-fledged printing technology to increase my sights.
One of them is the printing press.
He instructed them to reproduce by designing a machine that could print much more precisely than the existing crude plate-type type.
That is this press now.
“It’s not that there aren’t things to improve on yet, but with this, the foundation can be said to have been laid.”
As if to demonstrate, Aken put the paper into the press and started it, and letters were slowly printed on the paper and pulled out.
“The ink to be used for this has also been fully reproduced as Allel-sama instructed.”
And the ink was reproduced by Darman.
He took out the finished ink bottles and showed them.
It is of better quality than the one used before.
Compared to the previous ones, it does not smear easily and the shelf life of the printed material is considerably longer.
And above all, color.
It’s not just black, it comes in many colors like red, blue and yellow.
“Honestly, I wondered if it would make a lot of money if I just had this and sold it.”
Damon muttered admiringly as he inspected the ink bottles he pulled out.
“I’ve been thinking about selling it as long as it’s ink.”
That ink is also a product that can be used not only on paper but also on existing parchment.
“I think we can export it to foreign countries as long as it is limited to ink.”
“I think Lichen will like it.”
well That uncle is also busy again these days. I don’t know if they’d like to increase their work again.
Well, isn’t that what I know?
Anyway, the printing press and ink were completed.
“But what about the printing press?
Are you going to offer this as a product?”
“Hmm…. It must be difficult to sell it.”
Paper factories are as expensive to produce and difficult to manage.
There’s not much of an advantage to selling there.
“For now, I’m going to prepare a plan to use it separately and roll it. I was thinking about it to some extent.”
“Some might object.”
“Ah… that’s true too.”
Damon did not deny his concerns.
The guys who manage the production of existing books sometimes have young boys transcribe them for cheap.
If this is introduced, will they even think that their work will be lost?
But that’s not really my concern.
“Well, they probably don’t have the guts to complain to me again.”
What should I do…. Just press it moderately and it’s enough.
If that’s the case now, it won’t even come into my ears.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that. Instead, I need several, so please make them properly.”
“Hey, don’t worry about that.”
This is how the discussion about the printing press ended to some extent.
“So is that the end? I heard there’s more to it?”
The completion of the printing press is good news, but it’s not something that calls me in a hurry.
I expected that there must be other things.
“Actually, it wasn’t just because of the printing press that I urgently called Arel.”
Damon spoke out with a slightly puzzled look.
Looking at it, I felt that something was wrong.
